Impending Darkness
by DreamsAndIllusions
Summary: Plans have been set. The date of darkness and terror has been set. On the eclipse, the world will wait for the sun to re-emerge, but it would never happen. A powerful goddess has made sure that the world is plunged into eternal misery and suffering. With no light, there is no life, and no happiness. The fate of the world rests in the hands of a group of demigods pulled together.
1. Chapter 1

**This is a Submit your own Character (SYOC) story, which has been closed. The characters has been chosen already.**

**First chapter is short, just to let you know the background of the story.**

Achlys, the primordial goddess of night, misery, and sorrow, sat in her throne. Gazing into the dark sky, she watched the multicolored streaks of northern lights against the starry sky. _Such beauty and peacefulness_, she thought. It wasn't what she liked. Her job was to create misery and pain. To bask in the cries of suffering. She needed to do something. Something that would cause terror and great sadness to the world.

She stood, letting her pitch black cloak fall, and sweeping the floor as she walked. In brisk steps, she went down the flight of circular staircase, spiraling deeper into the underground cavern of her castle.

"My friends, I have decided on the plan. It will happen right after the solar eclipse." She said.

Her servants cheered. Finally, a brave man spoke up. "Eternal darkness? My Lady?"

Achlys smiled. "It shall be done. Exactly a week from today, on the eclipse, I will be at my full power. The world will see the darkness take over forever."

Cheers and applause followed her words.

"Misery! Misery! Misery!" They shouted, lifting their weapons to the sky with every word.

Achlys raised one hand for silence. The cavern became so quiet that she would be able to hear a pin drop.

"Without light, there is no life, no happiness. The world will be looking at the sky, waiting for the sun to reemerge after the eclipse, only to realize otherwise. I will prevail, and the night, too, will prevail."

The silence lingered, as the servants listened to her every word.

"The Olympians look down on me. They do not pray to me. So I will show them what powers I have over the lives of people." She continued. "By that time, it would be too late. They would be begging me to undo everything I have done, but I will not do anything."

The sea of heads in front of her bobbled up and down in excitement. "Darkness! Suffering! Misery!" They chanted, over and over again.

She could not, and would not, be stopped.

**How did you find this chapter?**


	2. Chapter 2

**First off, congratulations to the 7 chosen OCs! I had tons of submissions, and took a long time reading each and every one of them. All are decent in length, but I've chosen those that will fit in great in the storyline, and those who had a unique personality.**

**Secondly, to those who's OCs are rejected, they were probably beaten by others with the same godly parent, or they didnt really have that 'wow' factor in them. Although, Im glad to say none of them were Mary Stus or Gary Stues.**

**Lastly, here are the chosen OCs, and thanks to the submitters.**

**Ace Ashford - NeverForgiveOrForget**

**Caleb Wesley - WiseGirlOnFire**

**Charlotte Lace - PercyJacksonAlways**

**Jacqueline Lenore Gilliot - Wings4148**

**Rendall Spades - spikey devil**

**Cassandra Ignis - Alicia Mirza**

**Nicolette Rowan - Breaking the Remix**

**For this first chapter, I'm focusing on getting to know the other characters. So I tried to introduce them slowly, so you wont get confused. But due to that, I only had 5 OCs in this chapter. Im sorry that Rendall Spades and Nicolette Rowan werent mentioned in here, but they'll be in the next chapter. Its just the introducing that I want to take it slow.**

**I will change POVs every chapter to be fair.**

Ace Ashford, M, 17

Ace sighed stepped out of the Hades cabin. It was pretty late at night, and he had been sleeping rather peacefully on his bed. So why did Chiron summon him to the big house at this time in the night? Not only him, but a group of campers.

Well, at least that was about all he could make out when a daughter of Aphrodite attempted to pass on Chiron's message to him.

Key word: Tried.

She'd been squealing in excitement, possibly because Chiron had chosen _her_, to wake him up. So Ace had only managed to grasp the phrases 'not good', 'big problem', and 'meeting immediately', because he had also been trying to avoid her jabbing fingers, which kept trying to poke at his dimples.

After finally managing to shake her off by giving an excuse that he needed to get changed, the girl frowned and left him alone. Ace took the opportunity to quickly pull on a black V-neck T-shirt over his head, and grab a pair of jeans. He figured Chiron wouldn't take long, so he decided to leave his jacket and cap in the cabin.

Just before he left, Ace strapped his twin stygian iron swords to his back. It was his favourite weapon, and he felt safer with it being with him.

Ace made his way across the grounds towards the big house, where Chiron usually held meetings. The sky was still dark, and it was difficult to see through the gloom. This skin on him back tingled, there seemed to be something wrong with the sky, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

In front of him he could make out a figure of a girl. Her blouse rippled in the chilly night wind, and he wondered how she could brave the cold. Though he couldn't see that well in the dark, he could guess who she was. From her simple, single ponytail, and her slim, yet not underweight figure, he could tell she was the daughter of Khione. Charlotte Lace. In fact, she was the only daughter of Khione in the whole camp.

He didn't know her all that well, but he'd seen Charlotte occasionally. She was always alone, and isolated. Most of the other campers steered away from her, muttering behind her back that she was dangerous, because her mother, Khione, had once fought on the bad side. At time when the campers had been really mean, he'd try to stand up to them, and tell them that it doesn't necessarily mean that she was evil too.

Chiron, the centaur, was pacing just outside the big house. He looked impatient. The moment he saw Ace, Chiron cantered over to him.

"Everyone's nearly settled. This meeting is important. What's taking you so long?" Chiron said.

"Sorry, I got delayed back in the cabin." Ace replied, hurrying into the meeting room.

It would be an understatement to say the room was crowded. It was packed. Some campers even had to sit on the ping-pong table in the centre of the room. Ace made a quick scan of the faces in the room.

There was Charlotte, whom he'd seen earlier, standing silently in the corner, not attracting any attention. She wore a thin, white cotton blouse, with the sleeves folded up so that it didn't go below her elbows. She had a light blue jeans, which emphasized her very pale, blue eyes. And she had her trademark silver necklace with a pendant of a snowflake. Everyone knew what the necklace was. It can be transformed into a sword when she yanked out the pendant.

He could see the blonde haired Athena kids crowding around the ping-pong table, deep in thought for no real reason. Chiron hadn't even mentioned what the problem was. But then again, they were children of Athena, who would feel that they have wasted time if they weren't thinking.

Ace spotted his close friend Caleb Wesley, laughing along with a group of Hermes children. If there was one reason why he found it easy to talk to Caleb, it would be his outgoing and fun personality. It was something both Ace and Caleb have in common.

Ace was the last person to reach the big house, and everyone looked up at his lateness. Caleb gave him a mock salute and grin, before pulling the hood of his orange hoodie over his head.

"Quiet, now, children." Chiron spoke from the front of the room. "We have important things to discuss."

It took a while for the noisy chatter to die down. Chiron seemed to know that the noise wouldn't stay low for long. After all, most of them were ADHD and dyslexic, fidgeting was something done frequently.

"If you haven't noticed, a certain darkness and sinister air has been lingering for days. Nights are dragging longer. And it is of no coincidence that this prophecy lines have landed on my work table."

Chiron waved a piece of yellowing paper. One word had been caught by the demigods: _Prophecy._

A low whistle rang clear. A few demigods laughed. Ace swiveled to identify the owner of the whistle, and realized it was from Cass. Well, actually her name wasn't Cass. It was Cassandra. But if you called her by that name, she'd glare at you with her electric blue eyes, which can be rather scary.

Maybe that was why many campers tried to steer clear of Cass. She would make fun of those who were weaker than her. In short, Cass was a typical, high school bully. Ace didn't really like her bulling attitude. He didn't like the fact that she looked down at children of the minor gods. That was pure discrimination, and he simply couldn't accept it.

Usually, he finds children of the big three generally fun and enjoyable people, who weren't afraid to take risks. But Cass in particular, was certainly not someone he would talk to. Her stuck up and snobby personality always pissed him off.

"So what's the prophecy?" Caleb shouted. Ace grinned. He knew Caleb didn't like waiting an being held in suspense.

Chiron consulted his sheet of paper. "Well, it goes like this."

The centaur took a deep breath and recited:

"_Seven must unite, and friendships built,_

_Else in dark and cold, the world shall wilt,_

_Nature will suffer in endless night,_

_As revenge is sought, death start its flight,_

_Without light and luck, failure will reign,_

_Trials await, with consequence of pain_."

The room went totally silent.

Now Caleb didn't seem too impatient to hear the prophecy. He just sat quietly on his stool.

"Well that doesn't sound too good." Caleb said, breaking the silence.

"Chiron!" a son of Athena called out suddenly. "We too have noticed that the night has been dragging longer. And the link to this prophecy fits exactly! This is it!"

"And we _totally_ understood what you mean from that." Cole said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Cole was a daughter of Demeter. Everyone in camp called her by her nickname, as it was shorter, and easier to say compared to 'Nicolette'." She loved adventures. Extreme ones especially. She'd do anything that gives an adrenaline rush.

The serious tension in the room broke into hordes of laughter from Cole's remark.

Chiron raised his hand for silence before turning back to the blonde headed Athena kid. "Please explain what you mean from that."

"Well, I mean that there's only one god in charge of night, and suffering, as the prophecy also states. It's got to be Achlys, the goddess of night, misery, and suffering. And the prophecy also gave a vague clue as to who these seven questers are." The blonde boy said, as if this were obvious.

How he could link up all these in less than a minute, Ace didn't know. He supposed it was because he had Athena's brains.

So Ace decided to question further. "And who are the seven chosen questers?"

The bossy voice of Cass replied for him. "Obviously, from the second line, you can relate 'cold' to Khione, the goddess of snow. She's the only goddess here that can freeze stuff. So you can take that as a child of Khione, who is also known as The Traitor."

Cass shot a mean look in Charlotte's direction.

Immediately, the temperature of the room plunged by a few degrees, as Charlotte shot to her feet in anger. Usually, Charlotte had a good control on her temper. But now, she looked furious. Ace was glad she was fighting back this time.

"So what if my mother supported Gaia once! That doesn't mean that I'm evil too! You just want to look better at everything because your father is Zeus!" Charlotte shouted. She was unconsciously fingering her snowflake pendant.

Ace had seen her fight with a sword once. Saying she was good at swordplay didn't nearly cover it. She was skilled in sword fighting. In a fair fight, Ace was sure she could beat almost all the campers here. Maybe even Cass herself.

**Right, I know it isnt a proper stop, but I got sleepy. Please review how you think of each OC even if it isnt yours. For those whos OCs are mentioned here, I'd like to know if I got your personality right. (If you prefer to review by PM, go ahead!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you for all the long reviews. I know you put in plenty of effort to review each and every character even if it isnt yours. I wont promise on weekly updates. I'll just update when I'm free.**

**I wont bore you with A/N at the start. But please read the A/N at the bottom, its important for the flow of the story!**

Nicolette 'Cole' Rowan, F, 16

The entire room of demigods, including herself, went quiet, watching the heated argument between Cass and Charlotte. Okay, scratch that, they were watching a really cold battle of words. That sounded more like it. It was literally cold in this room. And she meant _temperature cold_, not the cold as in- okay, you get the idea.

If she were to make a wild guess at the temperature they sitting in, she'd say that it was a freezing 10 degrees.

Somewhere in the middle of the argument, Charlotte started fingering her silver necklace. Whether she did it on purpose to threaten Cass, Cole didn't really know. But she doubted it. Charlotte only used violence in the training arena or when she was playing capture the flag, and that was only during practice.

"You don't scare me, little girl." Cass taunted. She had one hand shoved into her too short shorts pocket. In a swift stroke, she whipped out an old fashioned mobile phone (those reliable, indestructible Nokia phone), and pressed hard on the 'on' button.

The campers sitting around Cass hurried to step back, as the phone changed into a long, celestial bronze sword. Astrapi, it was called. Many people had tasted countless wounds from that sword as Cass had always been generous with giving people cuts in a long fight.

Chiron squeezed between the crowd, "Okay, okay, now's not the time for this. We have a prophecy to settle. You two can sort this out later."

He shot a warning look at Cass, who didn't back down at first. Shooting Charlotte another glare, she finally deactivated the sword but sending a small voltage of electricity down its blade. It turned back into a harmless, battered, Nokia phone.

So for the next ten minutes, the Athena kids sat in the middle, brainstorming. Cole sat in silence. If the word 'cold' in the prophecy referred to Charlotte, she had a feeling that 'nature' would refer to herself. She wasn't afraid of going on a quest. In fact, she was excited. She hasn't done anything new recently, so she was itching to go on a quest. This was a golden opportunity.

The blonde headed kids looked up from their papers, which they'd been scribbling on a few minutes ago.

"So we've agreed that the prophecy word 'cold' refers to a demigod of Khione, 'nature' refers to a demigod of Demeter, 'revenge' refers to a demigod of Nemesis, 'death' refers to a demigod of Hades, 'flight' refers to a demigod of Zeus, 'light' refers to a demigod of Apollo, and 'luck' refers to a demigod of Tyche."

Cass stood up immediately. "I will represent the Zeus cabin." Her eyes flashed, daring anyone to oppose.

Chiron nodded at Cass. "That's agreed then. You're in."

"And I'll represent the Demeter Cabin." Cole said quickly. Her cabin mates smiled and nodded at her decision. They knew that if she had an idea, she would see it carried out till the end.

"I will represent Nemesis, since I am the only child here." A girl with lush, straight black hair which ended curled four inches above her waist. Her thin lips and round, brown eyes emphasized her facial features. She was wearing a plain, red T-shirt and sweat pants. Her face was serious.

Cole knew her as Jacqueline. Jackie, in short. The serious type of person.

Chiron nodded another time. Cass just rolled her eyes which Cole implied as 'oh, not another low down demigod'. Luckily, Jackie didn't catch that look from Cass.

"I'll be for Apollo! No competition!" Caleb bowed to the crowd. The camp cheered, including the Apollo children.

Ace followed his best friend's lead. "For Hades!" he pumped his fist into the air. Since he was the only Hades child here, no one could stop him.

"Caleb and Ace, then." Chiron said.

Charlotte stood up slowly. "I guess I have to represent Khione."

"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't make it back." The drawling voice of Cass replied.

Charlotte pretended she didn't hear anything. But as she turned to face the front, Cole could see her eyes quickly lowered to the floor. Looking around, Cole realized she was the only one who noticed that. She didn't talk to Charlotte much, but she was determined to get to know her better during the course of this quest.

Chiron spoke up. "And finally, we need a child of Tyche."

All eyes slowly found their way to a boy, leaning against a wall, at the back of the room. He was clothed in a faded, ratty black T-shirt, which was torn in several places. His shaggy red hair nearly concealing his green eyes.

"Randall." Chiron called, jerking the boy out of his trance.

"I- I don't think I should go." Randy said quietly, more to himself.

You wouldn't think a son of the goddess of luck could be this moody. But Cole knew Randy had mood swings. It was part of his abilities that he couldn't control. At times, his luck would strike, and he would succeed in everything he did. Then there were those times when he would get unlucky, and he would snap back at everyone. This must be one of those times.

But Chiron kept quiet, as though waiting for him to change his mind.

Then finally, Randy looked up.

He scowled at Chiron before saying, "Fine! You'll still make me go even if I don't want to! Just remember, if anything bad happens, I didn't ask to go on this quest."

Cole didn't really understand what Randy was talking about. And it seemed, neither did Chiron or the other quest members.

There was a lingering silence after Randy's proclamation, before Chiron clapped his hands once to get their attention.

"The seven questers will stay back here, and the rest of the campers may go back to your cabins."

Cole backed to the wall of the room to avoid the swarming campers from trampling over her as they pushed their way out of the stuffy room.

Within minutes, the room emptied out, leaving only seven demigods and a centaur alone.

"Congratulations to our seven victors of the seventy-fourth annual Hunger Games!" Caleb shouted, mimicking a sickly, high pitched voice.

Ace grinned and continued, "And you will each win a thousand Galleons of personal price money."

Cole laughed, doubling over and clutching her stomach. Ace raised his hand and gave Caleb a high-five. Charlotte giggled appreciatively. Even Cass had trouble holding back a smile, making her look like she was suffering from a bad stomachache.

Jackie coughed impatiently, and asked, "Chiron, when do we leave?"

The other six stifled their laughter to hear Chiron's reply.

"As soon as possible. Leaving now would be ideal. As you wait, the deadline draws nearer." The centaur said in a worried tone.

Jackie frowned. "Now? We don't even know where to find Achlys?"

"That is part of the quest. But I suggest you go north. The North Pole spends half the year in darkness. It is likely she would be there." Chiron said thoughtfully.

"But how do we get there? We can't possibly go by foot." Ace pointed out.

"You can discuss that as you leave. Now go, before it's too late."

Caleb snorted. "Actually, it's already late. It's midnight for goodness sake!"

Cass rolled her eyes and said loudly, "Alright! Get your stuff packed, and meet at the camp entrance in ten minutes! Hurry!"

The seven demigods headed back to their respective cabins. Cole, feeling really excited about the quest, ran all the way back to the Demeter Cabin. Maybe after she completed this quest, her mother might feel proud of her and may even talk to her. Cole wanted desperately to talk to Demeter. She wanted some sort of sign that her mother loved her like how her father did. All year round, Cole had tried doing all sorts of things to hopefully catch her mother's attention. But it never worked. The last time she had heard from her mother was when she was claimed many years ago.

As she stepped into the cabin, the lightly perfumed smell of flowers relaxed her.

"Good luck on the quest, Cole. I know you'll make all of us proud! We've helped you pack everything you might need." Her cabin mates said, handing her a backpack.

"Thanks." Cole said appreciatively as they gave her friendly pats on the back.

She snatched up a small, wooden flute from her bedside table, slung her backpack over her small shoulder, waved back at her cabin mates before stepping back out of the cabin.

Cole shoved the flute into a loop on her belt. It was a scythe, her favorite weapon. Then, she took off at a fast pace up Half-Blood Hill, adrenaline flowing through her veins as she thought of the dangerous, yet thrilling adventure.

**Okay! Hope you liked it! Now that all the characters are described, and you might know their outer personalities, please review on which character your OC might have romantic interest in. If you feel better PMing me...go ahead! **

**So just put this in your review or PM:**

**1) Name of your OC:**

**2) Name of the person whom your OC may have romantic interest in:**

**3) Why does your OC like her/him?:**

**4) How would your OC make a move on that character he/she has romanic interest in?:**

**Thats all! I'll put the name, age and gender of the seven questers below for your information. Remember, romance always spices stories up! You can even have more than one person whom your OC has romantic interest in! And this wont be permanant, you can change it again when I ask this question again later.**

**Ace Ashford, son of Hades, 17**

**Cass Ignis, daughter of Zeus, 16**

**Charlotte Lace, daughter of Khione, 17**

**Caleb Wesley, son of Apollo, 17**

**Randall Spades, son of Tyche, 17**

**Jackie Giliot, daughter of Nemesis, 15**

**Cole Rowan, daughter of Demeter, 16**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to those who replied on the romantic interest of your OC. Actually, I really like some of the pairings. Seriously. I might actually ship them. Okay. I just want to say this first. If both OCs have interest in each other through your reviews, it's almost certain that I'll put them together. If there's a love triangle, it will prolong through the story until I choose 2 of them to be together. If you havent replied...(you should have BTW...the rules said you have to be available through PM. This is one of the reasons)...then I'll try to delay the decision, which may spoil the flow of the story. I don't want to make decisions for you guys because I'm not sure you may accept it. So try to review or reply my questions if you can :)**

**On with the story!**

Charlotte Lace, F, 17

Charlotte took her time to walk back to her cabin. She scolded herself mentally for retaliating at Cass. So what if she picked an argument on that bully? It wasn't like Cass would stop taunting her anyway.

But that wasn't the bad part. The worst part was that she was forced to go on this quest. That would only put the other six in danger. Charlotte recalled her mother's offer just a few weeks ago.

No. She stopped herself in mid-thought. No one must know this. It is her big secret. If anyone found out…

Charlotte pushed the thought away. She shoved a few clothes and belongings she might need for the quest, which wasn't much, before hurrying off to the meeting point at the entrance of the camp.

As she climbed up the hill, she could make out three people. Cass was already there, and so was Randy. Cole was pacing at the top of the hill. She looked ready, and excited to leave. She wore a dark, long sleeved T-shirt that ended just a few inches above her knees. Cole had let down her waist length auburn hair too.

Cole gave Charlotte a friendly wave as she reached the top of the hill. It wasn't a sign that Charlotte always got everyday, but she gave the daughter of Demeter a small smile in return.

Jackie came next, followed by Ace and Caleb. As the two best friends hiked their way up the hill, Caleb first glanced at Cole, then at Charlotte, before giving Ace a nudge. But Ace only whispered something back at Caleb, which wiped the smirk off his face completely.

Suddenly, Caleb took a deep breath and called out, "Hey Cole!"

Cole looked puzzled, but she turned to face him. "Yeah?"

"I seem to have lost my phone number." Caleb said, planting himself in front of the smaller girl.

"Oookay…" Cole said slowly. "Am I supposed to be your maid and look for it?"

Caleb grinned, before saying quickly, "Nope. But can I have yours?"

Cass, who had been standing at one side, rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

Cole hesitated, her mind seemed to be whirling, but she narrowed her eyes and said, "Obviously, I wouldn't have a phone. I don't want monsters coming after me."

Caleb sighed, "Shame."

Cass shouted, catching all their attention. "We will take a plane to Alaska, then find some sort of transport to the North Pole when we get there. Any objections?"

"Here." Ace said, raising his hand. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to take a plane. Zeus won't be too pleased about that."

"Just take the damn plane and quite whining about it." Cass replied.

Ace shrugged his shoulders, and the seven of them went to the main road to catch a taxi.

They arrived at the airport about 2 hours later. Pooling all the cash they had to buy plane tickets, the boarded the plane.

Just before the takeoff, Randy warned, "Something bad's gonna happen. I don't like it either."

Charlotte, who was sitting at the window seat beside Ace, swiveled around to look at Randy.

"What do you mean by that? How would you know?" She asked curiously.

Randy frowned, "Luck's just not on my side this time. I can feel it."

"Then why didn't you tell us that earlier?"

"One reason: I'll still have bad luck whatever we do. I never wanted to come on this quest anyway. So if anything happens, it's not my fault."

They didn't get to talk much after that, because they had to put on seat belts as the plane took off.

Two hours came and went with only slight turbulence in the air. Ace looked like he was trying to keep calm, but his fingers were giving him away. His hands were clenched tightly at the armrests, and his whole body posture was stiff.

Charlotte wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. She wasn't good at talking to people. She didn't have many friends to talk to anyway. But keeping his mind off the movement of the plane seemed like the kindest thing to do. So she patted him on the arm to catch his attention, and said, "I've seen you fight at camp. You are good with those twin stygian iron swords."

Ace seemed happy to have a conversation to distract him. He turned to look at her.

"Well, I'm used to fighting with them. Besides, you're pretty good yourself." Ace smiled.

Charlotte could feel a slight, burning sensation on her cheeks. She hoped Ace didn't notice. She didn't get many compliments.

"Well, thanks."

There was a loud humming from the wing of the plane. The plane gave a huge lurch to one side, before straightening out again.

Charlotte whipped around to look out of the window. The engine just below the wing was fuming. Black smoke left a streak in the sky. The engine groaned and spluttered.

"No way!" Caleb shouted from the back, "We're going down! Make your last words folks!"

Seriously? That guy was laughing in the face of death. But it somewhat made her feel lighter.

Squinting out of the window, she could see the open ocean many meters below her. They were over the sea, with no land in sight.

Panic rose in her chest. _Water_. Her memory flashed back to when she nearly drowned. She was six then, ice skating on the frozen lake. But while she skated over a thin sheet of ice, it cracked, sending her tumbling into the water. Her father said he would be in the house watching her, but he probably fell asleep. As she tried to kick herself to the surface, the hole in the ice had frozen like it had a mind of its own. Just when she was out of air, about to fall into unconsciousness, she used her last bit of effort to push at the ice. It gave way, and she took a ragged breath of precious air. Now she was afraid to be in water.

The plane dropped lower. It was losing altitude. In minutes, the whole engine would give way, and they would plunge into the water.

Jackie took charge this time, "We have to jump before it crashes into the water! Once the plane sinks, the pressure of the water will stop the doors from opening. We will drown if we stay in here!"

Randy look like he'd expected this to happen. Cass pretended that taking the plane wasn't her idea. Cole nodded in agreement with Jackie's plan.

Cass happened to be sitting at the emergency exit door. She clasped the handle firmly in her hand, waiting for the plane to drop lower before making their escape.

The air stewardess were trying unsuccessfully to keep everyone calm.

"Any minute now." Cole said, peering out of the window.

Fear welled up in Charlotte. She knew she couldn't jump. The feeling of drowning replayed in her mind.

"I can't…" She whispered to no one in particular.

The plane lurched again, the ocean was nearer now.

Ace looked pale, but he gripped her hand. "You can. It'll be alright."

"Now!" Jackie shouted.

Cass responded by wrenching open the door, which got sucked into the sky. Cass took a brave step into the open air. Cole went next, followed by Caleb, who yelled, "I believe I can fly!" Randy just stepped out nervously, the wind making his tattered T-shirt flap wildly. Jackie looked confident as she took the leap of faith.

Charlotte held the edge of the door frame. It was worse than any monster she had fought. Her fear of water kept her from jumping.

The plane was low enough for Charlotte to see the raging waves. Ace was still holding on to her wrist.

He gave her a gentle tug on her hand. "C'mon, you'll be fine."

"I…I -" She tried to say. But the words were swept off by the wind.

The plane was now dangerously close to the water. If they didn't jump now, the water would push them back. They would certainly drown.

Her phobia of water made her mind fuzzy. All she knew was that Ace's blue eyes looked directly at her.

"Trust me." He whispered, before wrapping his arms around her, and preparing to jump. Charlotte didn't know what made her do it, but at that moment, her fear was just bearable. She released her grip on the door frame, and hugged him back, stepping into thin air.

Her legs broke the surface of the water, and her head went under. The water was dark and unfriendly. Ace started kicking his legs to push them to the surface of the water. Charlotte followed him, and together, their heads emerged from the dark water. She inhaled the salty air gratefully, holding on to Ace's shoulder for support.

"Thank you." She said.

Ace nodded, threading water with his arms. "Let's try to find the others. They shouldn't be too far away.

Charlotte closed her eyes, willing a portion of the surface of the ocean to solidify into ice. She imagined the water cooling into a flat piece of ice. A surge of strength was released from her, and when she opened her eyes, a large 3 meters long, 2 meters wide, and half a meter deep block of ice floated next to her.

Grabbing a stray backpack next to her, she pulled herself out of the water, onto the ice. Ace followed her lead and climbed onto the frozen ice.

Both of them dangled a leg in the water to kick the water and move forward. They would occasionally fish out stray supplies from the water.

Suddenly, Cass swooped out of the sky and landed gently on the ice block.

"The others are there!" Cass said, pointing to a spot far away, blocked by the huge waves of the sea. "They won't last very long in this current. Better be quick."

**I think you may have some idea on our first budding couple! 3 If your OC isnt mentioned much in the story, no worries, I'll make every OC have their moment of shine!**

**Please review (or by PM):**

**1) What do you think about Ace?:**

**2) What do you think about Charlotte?**

**3) Do you think Ace and Charlotte make a awesome couple?:**

**4) Does Cole and Caleb make a good pairing?**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys. I know this chapter is long overdue. I only just recently realized that I would have a problem with writing this story, because some of these story events are mostly in the States, and I am a Singaporean. I've never been there, so it's hard to write the names of the different places. So I was going to stop this story, until PercyJacksonAlways and Wings4148 PMed me again, requesting me to continue. So after some consideration, I shall continue. But the places the demigods visit are entirely made up, even though it is supposed to be in US. I hope you're fine with that. Sorry for the long wait. Don't get me wrong. I love writing this SYOC. It's just the names and places in the States that is difficult.  
**

**And thanks for reviewing the last chapter too.**

Caleb Wesley, M, 17

As a big wave crashed over his head, salty seawater filled his mouth. But after years of swimming in the Canoe Lake back in Camp Half-Blood, he remained calm, and adopted a movement to thread water. Within seconds, Caleb had resurfaced, inhaling the gentle breeze.

Finding the other six demigods were his highest priority. Okay, maybe that wasn't his topmost priority. The blinking red light on his mental list was to find Cole, and make sure she was safe. Of course, he would never tell her that, because she would smash the living daylights out of him for even thinking about that.

Caleb turned a full three-sixty in the water, taking opportunity of the rise of water from the waves to get a clear view of his surroundings. There! His friends weren't far away. Just about 5 meters away, he spotted Randy, Cole, and Jackie trying to keep afloat. They had joined hands to prevent the current from separating each other.

Caleb swam towards them in a perfect freestyle, and caught up with them in a few minutes.

"Thank goodness! We thought we lost the rest of you." Cole said, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer.

Jackie frowned. "Where's Ace and Charlotte? Did you see them?"

Shaking his head, Caleb realized that his best friend was missing.

"What about Cass?" Randy asked. "I want to kill her for suggesting we take a plane."

"Didn't see her either. Probably saving herself." Caleb replied.

Jackie sighed. "We're never going to find the others like this. And we can't swim forever."

Though nobody said anything, they agreed with her. How long could they last in the middle of the ocean, without any float? They would soon tire and drown. In fact, all of them were panting already.

Then, Caleb had a sudden inspiration. It was the best hope they had.

Concentrating, he raised his palm into the air, and tried to focus his energy on his hand. It was hard, seeing that the waves kept distracting him. Swimming with one hand wasn't easy. Very slowly, his palm felt warm, then a ball of golden light was suspended in the portion just above his hand. It was a glowing orb of light, which might be used as a beacon so the others would know where they are.

Almost immediately, Cass appeared, hovering in the air above them. In short, she was flying. It was probably one of her daughter-of-Zeus powers. And obviously, she didn't even help.

"Found you all. I won't be able to pull you out of the water. It's way too heavy. But Ace and Charlotte are not far away, and they've found some sort of float. I'll tell them to come this way." Cass said. Then, she flew off.

Really! Caleb thought. She would be the splitting image of a fairy if she carried a wand and threw sparkly glitter behind her.

Making the orb of light was draining him slowly. It was a new power he had just discovered a few months ago.

After another ten minutes of trying to keep his head above the water, Caleb spotted a white-ish looking platform floating towards him. Charlotte and Ace were sitting on it, using their legs to propel the floating platform forwards.

"Hop on!" Ace said, beckoning at them to come.

"Wait." Charlotte interrupted. "I'll try to make a bigger block of ice."

She bent her body and leant out, stretching her hand over the water. Caleb could feel the surrounding water plummet to freezing temperatures. Then, a large portion of water turned into a thick sheet of ice. It was like an ice boat, except that it was completely flat.

"Wow!" Caleb yelled, pulling himself onto the ice. "This is totally cool!"

Cole laughed, "You didn't expect a block of ice to be hot, did you?"

Cass said she would fly around to see if there was any land nearby, and told them not to drift too far away while waiting for her to come back. Caleb would have said something about her plan, but she had flown off before they could protest.

Sitting on the 'boat' wasn't comfortable either. All of them, except Charlotte, were constantly shifting around. Caleb's butt was frozen stiff, and it had gone numb.

A stray thought drifted into his mind. Didn't people's fingers drop out when they were frozen? So does that rule apply to buttocks too? He certainly hoped not.

The sun peeked out from the horizon, giving a reddish glow to the blue waters. He lifted his face to the sunlight, feeling his body warm up from the gentle sun rays. It reminded him of the Apollo cabin back at Camp.

Then, with a start, he realized: The warmth would melt the piece of ice that they were on.

Looking down at the ice block, Caleb noticed that the top layer of the ice had indeed melted. The surface was wet, although the size of the ice block remained the same. Maybe Charlotte was keeping the ice intact. But he was sure that constantly freezing water must take up a lot of energy. That only meant that while she kept up the 'boat' for them, she was draining her energy.

As if on cue, she said tiredly, "I can't keep this up long."

Even in the cold, beads of sweat were trickling down her forehead.

Cole gave her a friendly hug. "We'll find land soon. Just hold on a little longer."

From afar, a small speck in the sky shot towards them. It was Cass.

She yelled, "I found land! About twenty minutes away! Follow me!"

All six of them paddled with their hands and feet, urging the ice to move forward. Cass just hovered ahead of them. She didn't even land once on the ice. Caleb thought it was because she didn't want to look like she needed Charlotte's help. She didn't want to show weakness.

Glancing at Cole, Caleb put his free arm around her waist.

"You want some _hot_, Cole?"

Cole tensed, but she said after a pause, "I could do with some warmth, Mr Sunshine."

After about ten minutes of paddling, Caleb's arms felt heavy. The six demigods paddling strokes were considerably slower. All of them noticed that the sheet of ice they were sitting on was getting considerably thinner. It couldn't be more than five centimeters thick. There were fine crack lines running across the ice. But they could see a large, flat plain in the distance.

Randy shook his head. "We won't make it. I know we won't."

Charlotte swayed dangerously in her seat. Her eyes were half closed. But Ace pulled her back, letting her lean back against his legs.

"C'mon, Little Icicle, don't give up." Ace said encouragingly.

At her new nickname, Charlotte whipped around to look at him. "Don't. Call. Me. That. Again." She fumed, pointing at his chest with every word.

Ace raised both his hands in surrender, and Charlotte turned back to the front, resting against his legs again. When she wasn't looking, Caleb could see the small smile on Ace's lips.

Caleb took this opportunity to tease his best friend. He whispered in Ace's ear, "Ooooh, someone's in loooove."

Ace gave him a hard shove in return, nearly toppling Caleb out of the ice boat.

Suddenly Jackie called out from the front of the boat.

"Guys! Shhhh! There's something in the water." She said, waving frantically for their attention.

Caleb stopped to look into the depths of the water. The daughter of Nemesis was right. A long, snake-like creature was circling the boat.

"That does _not_ look friendly." Caleb pointed out.

At that moment, Charlotte had exhausted her energy. The piece of ice cracked, plunging them straight into the water. Just before the dark waters engulfed them, Caleb thought he could see a flicker of fear in Charlotte's eyes before her head disappeared beneath the surface of the water.

Ace dived in after her, and emerged seconds later with his arms around her waist. She was breathing hard, but managed not to pass out from over exhaustion.

"Cole!" He shouted, searching for her frantically.

"I'm a little busy now, Caleb! Talk to you later!" Cole shouted. Her voice was a few feet above him.

Caleb looked up and gasped. A rather slimy looking plant with many flimsy looking green branches were protruding from the water. It seemed to have a life of its own. Then, he slapped a hand to his forehead.

_Of course! It was Cole who was controlling the plant. She was a daughter of Demeter!_

Cole was standing on a branch of the seaweed. Jackie was gripping on to one of the branches, trying to keep her balance. Both of them were battling a huge, snakelike creature, who's head kept snapping at them with razor sharp teeth.

It was a sea serpent! And a huge one at that.

Cole had already taken out her wooden flute from a loop in her belt. The flute had now transformed into a heavy looking scythe. She swung it, hard, at the head of the sea serpent. Unfortunately, the curved bronze blade missed it by inches as it ducked.

The snake, in which Caleb decided to call it "Snakey" hissed at Cole. Jackie, meanwhile, thrust her spear at Snakey's body. There was a 'chink' sound, at the spear bounced harmlessly off the scales of the snake. Now they had succeeded in making Snakey angry.

It slithered onto the thin branches of the seaweed plant that Cole was controlling. Cole shirked from the weight of the snake's body, and the seaweed crumbled back into the water. Jackie, who had been hanging on the branches, dropped three feet into the water.

Snakey was the only thing standing between the six swimming demigods and the island. Killing Snakey seemed to be the entrance fee.

"I've got an idea!" Caleb shouted suddenly. "Ace! Charlotte! Get ready!"

The son of Apollo gathered all his strength and concentrated hard. Only when he felt a searing heat behind him, did he look up at the serpent.

He had created a bright light behind the demigods, but directly in front of Snakey. The sea serpent's eyes burned from the bright light, blinding it momentarily.

Ace, who was still holding on to Charlotte, shadowtravelled to the shadow just behind the Snakey's head. Both of them grabbed on to the scaly head of the serpent just in time. The Serpent jerked, trying to dislodge them. Charlotte's grip loosened, and she hung, five meters above the water, by one hand, which was slowly sliding of a scale.

"How do we kill –" Ace trailed off, looking at the Snake's body which was fully protected with metallic scales.

Charlotte used her free hand to yank out her pendant, with transformed into a sword. She gave a desperate swing with her sword at the scale she was holding. Caleb watched as the scale was plucked out. Charlotte, who had cut off her only handhold, plunged straight into the water.

Ace watched with worry as Cole swam towards the spot where Charlotte disappeared into the water. Then, he looked back at the gaping hole where a single scale had been sliced off, leaving the soft flesh of Snakey vulnerable.

He reached one hand to his back, and unsheathed one of his two stygian iron swords. Raising it above his head, he plunged it straight into the now exposed flesh of the snake.

**And that is Caleb's POV for you! It's the longest chapter I've ever written.**

**Right. So please review (in the reviews or by PM):**

**1) Do you like the nicknames I gave for Caleb (Mr Sunshine) and Charlotte (Little Icicle)?**

**2) How did you find the seven characters (Caleb, Cole, Ace, Charlotte, Jackie, Randy and Cass) now that we've reached the 5th chapter?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Next Chapter is up! I realised my chapters has been getting quite long, so I might shorten them. Before you read, I'd like to make this clear, since the reviews havent been coming in as it should. So if you dont review, I'll try to put up with it because you may be busy. But to make it fair to those who review, I might skip the POV of your OC if you dont review. And if you havent review multiple chapters continuously, you OC would most likely be killed (There is a hell lot of people OCs who could have been included if not for your OC.)**

**And on a happier note, let's read!**

Jacqueline Giliot, F, 15

Ace shoved the full length of his sword into the flesh of the sea serpent. Both of his hands were clutching the hilt of the sword, which was protruding out of the serpent's head.

The serpent screeched one final time before turning into a cloud of yellow dust. Since the stygian iron blade was now free, Ace fell down five meters, into the water like how Charlotte had done.

Having confronted the monster, the six demigods swam towards the island. They clambered out of the water, stepping on the moist sandy ground.

"We did it, guys!" Caleb said, punching his hands into the air. "We totally whipped its butt!"

Randy was the first to get out of the water. "Seems like the luck has finally turned!" he smiled.

Jackie scanned her surroundings. They were standing on a very short stretch of beach. Behind the beach was a forest. A thick, dark forest to be accurate. The trees did not look welcoming at all. It felt…cold. This cold was not Charlotte's doing. It was an unfriendly feeling.

Well, Jackie knew all along that this whole quest was a suicide mission. She knew that every step closer to getting to the North Pole was putting the rest one step closer to death.

Convincing Achlys against having eternal darkness was not going to be an easy task. She was a power hungry primordial goddess who wanted to be more important than the other gods. She would not hesitate to cause misery to those who oppose her. Due to her threats, many demigods tried to evade these sufferings by joining her army. Achlys promised to share her rule and fame to all her followers, which consisted of a variety of demigods and minor gods, after she has tipped the Olympian gods off their throne.

So far, Jackie knew, the snow goddess Khione was on her side. Armies of demigods have also joined her cause. One of which, was Jackie's twin brother himself. Recently, her brother Sean had been begging her not to resist Achlys. He'd told her that her army was strong, and it was foolish to defend against them.

But it was against Jackie's nature to turn against her friends in Camp Half-Blood. However, she couldn't fight her brother either. Sean wasn't a bad person. He was just afraid of Achlys, and Jackie knew Achlys could be nasty when she wanted to. Although Jackie could see Sean's darker personality swallowing him slowly, she believed that there was still a part of him who could change. There was still good in her brother.

She desperately needed to talk to someone about this. Being the youngest of the group, they naturally kept an eye on her, just to make sure she was okay. She was grateful for all that, but she needed to talk to someone who may be able to relate to her.

She ran down the list of demigods.

Cass – Definitely not. She looked down on almost everyone. If Jackie ever mentioned her secret to her, she would find some way to make the rest mistrust her.

Ace – Nope. His father was Hades, a big three god. Though he was different from most children of Hades, she couldn't risk him not understanding her.

Charlotte – Yes. She had the highest possibility of understanding Jackie. Her own mother, Khione, was on Achlys's side. She might be able to help Jackie.

Cole – Maybe. The daughter of Demeter had an open personality. Cole didn't seem like the type of person who would judge others too harshly.

Caleb – Ahhh…Jackie blushed a little just thinking about him. But she pushed her feelings aside. He was a nice guy. But maybe a little too playful and cheerful to tell him her problems.

Randy – This boy always keeps to himself. A little emo, always absorbed in his own thoughts, in his own world. Perhaps not. Jackie didn't know how he might react.

Jackie made up her mind. She would have a word with Charlotte, or perhaps Cole, when the rest were not around.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Cass shouted from the border of the forest.

Something in Jackie snapped. They had just fought a huge sea serpent, and had nearly lost their friends in the process. Cass, however, hadn't even lifted a finger. And Cass thought herself as a leader. She was nothing more than a selfish, thoughtless bully.

"We were busy fighting, in case you didn't know." Jackie yelled back.

Cass raised her eyebrows and stomped over to Jackie.

"So it took," Cass pretended to count on her fingers, "_six_ of you to fight a stupid monster? Oh, hang on. I forgot I was in the presence of minor demigods. Well, then it no surprise."

Anger boiled up in Jackie. Jackie would make Cass pay for calling her weak. She would get her revenge. Clutching her spear in her hand, she raised it to an attack position.

But Randy stepped in between them. He took a few steps closer to Cass.

"Move!" Cass shouted at Randy, "Or I will slash you into bits like that kiddo too."

Randy ignored her, and reached out to touch her shoulder firmly. "I need to tell you something."

"Get lost, you idiot! You're in my way." Cass retorted.

"It's important." Randy whispered. "We don't want to be overheard."

Jackie could see that Cass was interested in finding out what Randy had to say. But she didn't want to put off the fight either. Finally, her curiosity gave in, and she sent Jackie a menacing glare, before stomping off with Randy.

"Catch you later, weakling." Cass said. Then, she turned to Randy, "What, now? It had better be good."

The pair of them turned their backs on Jackie, and walked off towards the forest.

"Everything alright?" Cole asked, striding up from the beach. Cole was strapping her wooden flute safely back into a loop on her belt.

Jackie nodded. "It's just Cass. Any idea how we are going to get to the North Pole from here?"

Cole shook her head. "No idea. We're going to discuss that soon."

Jackie looked back at the beach. Ace was emptying water from his shoes. Charlotte was walking towards Jackie and Cole, attempting to squeeze water out of her blouse. Caleb ran a hand through his wet hair, struck up a sexy pose, and winked at Cole.

Cole laughed, but pretended to cover her eyes as though what she saw had burned her eyes.

"That was some sea monster." Charlotte said. "We make a good team."

"We sure do. And I think you and Ace are a great pair when it comes to fighting." Cole smiled, giving her a knowing look.

Ace and Caleb had walked to them. The five demigods gathered in a circle.

"Okay. So we have to discuss what to do now that we are stranded on an island." Ace started off.

Jackie held up her hand to pause the discussion. "Randy and Cass aren't here. Should we wait for them?"

Caleb and Ace had mischievous glints in their eyes. They looked at each other briefly, before Caleb grinned and said, "They weren't meant to be here. You know how Cass gets all bossy when it comes to making decisions? We thought it might be better to leave her out of it. So Randy volunteered to drive her away while we talk. He seems eager though, dunno what's got into that guy."

Since all of them had no objections about leaving Cass and Randy out of the conversation, they started to make plans.

"Well, that sea monster was Keto, I think. I heard she escaped quite long ago." Jackie said.

"No worries." Ace said. "She's safely back in Tartarus now. Since we got landed here, I suggest we explore this place. It can't be coincidence that we crashed here."

"Yeah. It can't be coincidence. But I don't think we should wander around. There's seven of us here. We're bound to attract monsters. I think we should keep moving." Charlotte added.

Caleb waved his hand, causing all of them to look at him. "Wait, wait, wait. You're forgetting something really important."

"Which is…?" Jackie motioned for him to continue.

Caleb rubbed his stomach with his hands. "We should find some food. It's already dinnertime, and we haven't even had lunch."

Now that Caleb pointed that out, Jackie realized she was hungry. Really hungry. Fighting the monster had taken most of their energy. They were drained.

"You and your stomach." Cole muttered. But they agreed to get some food, rest for the night, before moving on.

"Great idea." Caleb said. "We could all do with a bit of sleep."

The five demigods strolled to the edge of the forest. Even though the sun was still up, the forest canopy shielded them from the light. It was dark and gloomy.

"We should go deeper before we make camp. It might shield us from unfriendly eyes." Jackie suggested.

Cole stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute. We forgot about Cass and Randy. Where did you tell Randy to take Cass?"

"Shouldn't be far. I told him not to stray too far into the forest." Ace said, sounding a little worried. "How about you girls stay here, while Caleb and I do a quick search in this area?"

Caleb shrugged his shoulders in agreement. "Don't miss me too much, okay Cole?"

The daughter of Demeter rolled her eyes at his cheesy jokes, "Trust me, I won't, Mr. Sunshine."

Charlotte seemed reluctant to let them go by themselves. "Are you sure –"

Ace cut her off, "We'll be fine. I'll come back. Promise!"

Then Ace and Caleb walked deeper into the forest, and was swallowed by the darkness.

"Right. How about we go around searching for little berries or food while waiting for the guys." Jackie said. "Just don't go too far."

So Cole went off to the right, while Charlotte set off to look to the left. Jackie made a split second decision to use the opportunity to talk to Charlotte. She caught up with her.

"Hey, Charlotte."

"Jackie. What's up?"

Jackie paused for a moment. There was no turning back after this.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I need to tell you something."

"Okay. Sure." Charlotte said, looking at her.

"Promise to keep it a secret? You mustn't tell anyone."

Charlotte frowned. But she nodded, "I swear on the Styx."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, sealing the oath.

"It's my twin brother, Sean. He is on Achlys's side. He told me to join him. He said Achlys's has a strong army, and it is undoubtedly able to crush anyone standing in their path. He said that even Camp Half-Blood didn't stand a chance to stop her army." Jackie said quickly.

"So what did you do?" Charlotte asked.

"I didn't join him. But that's not the point. The point is, this whole quest is for nothing. Achlys's will crush us. Her army outnumbers us many time over. The rest doesn't know this. They don't know that the moment we reach the North Pole to find Achlys's, we'd be as good as dead. We can't keep them in the dark like this, Charlotte. We have to warn them."

"But that is why Chiron sent us on this quest." Charlotte replied. "We were sent to _persuade_ them. Not fight them. I know about their army already. My mother Khione, too, has asked me to join her side. I was tempted at first, but I refused. Anyway, I agree we should at least tell the others. I was afraid of telling them this because I thought they would not trust me anymore, especially since I'm a daughter of Khione. But now, I think it'll be best to warn them."

Jackie nodded. Some weight lifted off her chest. At least if the others reject her, Charlotte would be by her side.

Suddenly, a sharp scream rang through the forest. It was Cole!

Another desperate call from Cole was heard. "Run! Get out of –"

But her voice was muffled, as though a hand had clamped her mouth shut.

Charlotte's eyes flashed in alarm. She grabbed Jackie's hand and dragged her further behind a bush.

A whitish smoke wafted towards them. Jackie tried to sniff what it was, but it was too late when she realized it was drugged to make them sleep.

The white smoke engulfed bother Jackie and Charlotte, and she felt her eyelids grow heavy. Darkness surrounded her, and she blacked out.

**Please review:**

**1) Do you think Randy/Cass would work out?**

**2) (This question is only for the creator of Ace, Caleb, Randy and Cass) How far would your OC be willing to rescue Charlotte, Cole, and Jackie? Why?**

**3) (This question is only for the creator of Charlotte, Cole and Jackie) If your OC could tell the the others one thing, what would it be?**

**The next chapter will be up depending on how fast you reply the questions. Because what will happen depends on your answers :)**

**Until next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I really need to pay attention to the length of each chapter. I just can't control it :P Right. Anyway, thank you for the really quick reviews from almost all of you. **

**Right. Before you read, I'd like to say something quick. Remember the character Cass? Since the owner of this OC hasnt reviewed for 4 chapters continuously, I've decided to be fair to the rest who reviewed each and every chapter. So I will keep Cass's role as a smaller part when possible. And due to the lack of reviews for that OC, I cant feel Cass's character properly. So in the next update, which is supposed to be from Cass's POV, I will skip and move on to Cole. I know I should start from Ace again, but since I want to zoom over to what's happening with the girls, I'll do some slight tweaks.**

**Okay, I'm done babbling. You may read.**

Randall Spades, M, 17

Ace and Caleb had asked Randy for a favour. Because none of them really liked having Cass at group discussions (just look what happened the last time Cass made a decision), he was asked to lead Cass into the forest area while the others regrouped.

So Randy was shunned, like many times before, from the conversation too. Though he knew that Ace and Caleb hadn't really done it on purpose, he didn't like it. But Randy didn't complain. The son of Tyche was finally having one of his 'lucky' days. Just a few hours ago, his luck had changed. Before that, everything he had done was unlucky. Right up from getting picked to go on this quest, to getting blasted from the plane, and finally getting dumped into the water to battle a gigantic sea monster.

Now that they had managed to find land, Randy knew that his luck has changed. It was pointless to predict how long his good luck would stay. Sometimes, it lasted for a month, yet sometimes it lasted for a day. During these times, if he wasn't stranded on a stupid island, he would have gone to gamble and hauled back millions of dollars. But since he was stuck on a stupid island, he had to make do with what he had.

So, he decided, he would use the private time with Cass, to talk some things through.

Don't get him wrong, though. He didn't like Cass. Randy didn't have anything for her. All he wanted to do was to prove her wrong. He was tired of her looking down at children of the minor gods. That was why he wanted to prove her wrong, and make her fall for him.

Of course, Cass didn't know she was in for all this surprise. She kept urging him to tell her what was so important.

They continued at a slow pace in the forest.

"So? Start spilling." Cass said impatiently.

Randy managed a small smile. "Okay, I'll spill. Ready?"

"Just get on with it already, Luck Boy!"

"Right. Just remember you asked me to tell you. If I were to make an intelligent guess, I'd say you actually like me." Randy said, waiting to see Cass's reaction.

Cass was stunned from his words. She definitely wasn't expecting this to happen.

"What the –" Cass started. "Then you aren't intelligent. For your information, I clearly don't like children of the minor gods like you! And I certainly do not have a thing for you!"

Randy pretended to look hurt. "Well, I'm sure you will change your mind about all that. I can tell, deep down, that you like me. You just don't want to say it."

They kept the pace, walking along a gently flowing stream.

"Keep dreaming, Luck Boy, I assure you that would never happen. I would zap you with lightning for saying that, but since I don't want to attract unwanted attention, consider yourself lucky." Cass glared at him.

Randy knew it was his lucky day which prevented him from getting fried into a crisp.

"Guys! Randy? Cass?" Caleb's voice called. His voice was partially covered by the trickling sound of water in the stream.

Randy and Cass hurried towards the voice.

"Here!" Cass shouted.

There was a sound of snapping twigs, and Ace rushed towards them, using his two swords to cut away tree vines to make a path. Caleb followed behind.

"Finally." Ace said, relieved. "Thought we'd lost the two of you."

Cass had a look of disbelief on her face. "I think we can manage perfectly by ourselves."

"C'mon, let's go back and get the girls before moving on." Caleb said.

Since Ace and Caleb said that they told the girls to wait while they searched for Randy and Cass, they lead the way back to the meeting point.

It was quite some distance away, and Randy wondered how he had gotten carried away while talking to Cass.

"Shouldn't be far now." Caleb called from the front.

They four demigods trekked a little further in the forest. Darkness seemed to be descending fast. The shadows grew longer as the sun sank towards the horizon.

They stopped behind a row of bushes.

"They should be…" Caleb scanned his surroundings, making a full three hundred and sixty degrees turn. "Where are they?"

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Ace said, squinting in the darkness. "Look closely. Is it just me, or does there seem to be a thin mist in the air?"

Ace was right. If he focused on a spot, Randy could see curls of smoke dissipating into the trees.

"It's not just you." Randy, Caleb, and Cass said at the same time.

Then Caleb stepped forward. "I know what it is! I recognize it! It is used to put people to sleep. We use it a lot in the infirmary back at camp!"

The demigods looked at each other. All of them had come to the same conclusion even without saying it out. It was clear now: Charlotte, Cole, and Jackie had been drugged to sleep, and kidnapped.

Something caught Randy's eye. A single red apple on the ground. Looking up, he saw many more apples, ripe and appetizing.

Caleb strode over to him. "That wasn't there earlier. There were no fruits on this tree. This must be…Cole! I bet she was trying to grow some food quickly!" Then his face fell, "…Until they were caught."

Ace shook his shoulder gently. "We'll find them back. Those three girls won't go down without a fight. Their captors will have a hard time."

"Okay, okay, quit the moaning." Cass said. She picked up a spear from the ground.

The seven of them recognized it immediately. It belonged to Jackie. Out of the three girls, only Jackie's spear was not a magical item. Their captors obviously decided to unarm them before taking them away. Which meant that Charlotte and Cole must have been smart enough not to show their weapons.

Caleb shook his head. His usually bright and sunny personality had disappeared with Cole. "This isn't going to tell us where the girls were brought."

But Randy knew it was his lucky day. The son of Tyche dug in his pockets, finally pulling out a single drachma.

"Bingo!" Randy said. "Now we need a rainbow."

Just as he said it, rain started pouring down. Fat water droplets seeped through the forest canopy, dripping down onto the ground. Thunder boomed in the sky. They were in the middle of a heavy storm.

Ace's eyes brightened a little, they had little hope now. Looking at Caleb, he nodded. "Light please."

Caleb didn't waste a second. Within seconds, a bright ball of light hovered just above their heads. At this angle, the water droplets split the light into seven colours, forming a clear rainbow.

Randy never wanted to get involved with all these complications. But deep in his heart, there was some guilt. If he hadn't wondered too far, none of these would have happened. Now that the girls were gone, and it was partially his fault, he knew it was only right to find them back.

Randy gazed into the rainbow saying, "O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Charlotte, Cole, and Jackie, wherever they are."

Crossing his fingers, he hoped that the girls had extra drachmas with them.

They did. The connection went through. In the rainbow image, Randy saw Cole's face sharpen in front of the message. She was in a cell, sturdily built with rusty iron bars. In the adjoining cell on Cole's left was Charlotte. On the right, sitting behind another set of bars, was Jackie. No one else was in sight.

"Cole!" Caleb shouted immediately.

"We're coming for all of you. I'm going to shadowtravel us in there to get you out." Ace said, looking at Charlotte.

But Charlotte shook her head furiously. "No! Don't try it. I heard shadowtraveling won't work here. It'll only get you caught. It is a trap, Ace. It won't do us any favours if you get caught."

"Okay. But where are you held?" Randy asked.

Jackie's eyes lit up. Through the rainbow, she turned to Charlotte and Cole. "Hunter actually gave it away." She looked back at the rainbow. "He said something about bringing us to his house, just 3 kilometers east of Achlys temple in the North Pole."

Ace paused, then asked, "Hunter?"

Jackie nodded. "That's the leader's name. He is Achlys's son. He's cruel, and powerful. Don't underestimate him. And he also has bodyguards and followers."

The image in the rainbow flickered for a moment, as though there were a weak signal. Then a soothing woman's voice spoke, "Please insert another drachma for an additional five minutes."

Ace swore under his breath. They were out of cash. Most of their supplies and bags had sunk deep into the ocean after the plane crash.

Ace looked at Randy, but the son of Tyche shook his head, "I'm broke."

Caleb squinted into the image. "What the Hades did they do to you!"

Randy noticed his eyes travel over a bruise on Jackie's neck, and a bloody cut on Charlotte's cheek.

The connection blurred, and the image started to fade.

"We're okay. At least for now." Charlotte said. "Just remember to be careful of –"

The image had disappeared completely. Silence engulfed them again.

Ace was the first to speak. "They are so _not_ okay. Who's this Hunter guy?"

"Well, Jackie said he is Achlys's son." Randy said slowly. Then, he stopped suddenly and frowned. "Hang on. How did Jackie know so much about this Hunter person?"

Randy wasn't accusing anyone. But he just wanted to make a point. He had some suspicions now. If there was one thing he hated, it was getting betrayed. He'd never really trusted anyone before. Why should he start now?

Caleb looked at him. That guy looked like he already knew what Randy meant, but wanted to confirm his thoughts. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm just trying to make sure we aren't walking to our deathbeds. Think about it for a minute." Randy insisted. "Achlys's wouldn't give away much info if she was planning something bad. She'd wouldn't want to raise the alarm and let anyone attempt to stop her. Her son is the weak link. Do you think she'll go about screaming to everyone that Hunter is her favourite little kid?"

Ace attempted to say something, but Randy held out his hand to stop him.

"No. She'll make sure that her son is safe and unknown. Maybe only her closest followers would know the truth. So how would someone like Jackie, possibly know all that information? Think about it, there is only two possibilities that she could have known." Randy put out two fingers on his hand, ticking them off as he continued. "One, is that she has inside information. Someone leaked information to her, for bad or for good. Two, is that…" Randy paused, wondering how the others would react, "…she is a spy. She is working for them."

"Stop." Ace said. "For all we know, it might be a false accusation. She's been with us this whole quest. In camp, she never showed any sign of being a spy."

Caleb backed Ace up. "Yeah. Either way, there's only one way to figure this out. Find them, find Achlys's, and find the truth."

Randy sighed, he looked at Cass for support. But she looked away and said, "I hate to say it, but I'm with them. It's too early to say anything."

"Fine." Randy said plainly, "But if something happens later, just remember what I said."

"Okay. How do we get there?" Caleb asked.

Ace grinned. "Simple. Shadowtraveling."

"But Charlotte specifically told you not to try it. She was sure it is a trap."

"Ahh….she told me not to shadowtravel to where they are being held. We can shadowtravel a little distance away, then sneak in."

The others agreed. Caleb grabbed Ace's left arm, while Randy held on to both Ace and Cass. Randy felt the shadows encase over them, and they sped into the darkness.

**If you've noticed, we have our new bad guy Hunter! Hunter Jackson is submitted by Princess of Flames! He won't get a POV, but keep your eyes open, even without a POV, I'm sure you will get really familiar with his evilness. MUAHAHAHA!**

**Before reviewing, and IMPORTANT A/N: I realised this story is K+. I swear I didn't realise that at first, or I would have changed it to a K, or T at least. So if there's any kid out there, or any of you who submitted me your character and dont like to see violence, please let me know, and I'll try to minimise it. Because Hunter has just arrived, BEWARE.**

**Please review:**

**1) Do you want to make any changes with the romantic interest for your OC? (Last call. It will be fixed after this chapter.)**

**2) How did you find this chapter? Please give a general review.**

**3) Who's POV did you like best?**

**4) Is it okay for you if I add some violence to this story? Probably at T rating?**


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